The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : For them, it was a miraculous escape

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

For them, it was a miraculous escape

By S. Anil Radhakrishnan

Indian Air Force personnel and their family members from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands arriving at the Shanghumughom Air Base on Thursday. Photo: C. Ratheesh Kumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 30. They came empty-handed with the haunting memories of Sunday's tsunami disaster that hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Though back in their home State, the families of Naik T. Vinod and N.C. Babu cannot believe that they managed to escape from the killer waves that took the lives of over 10,000 persons and wiped out the Indian Air Force Base at Car Nicobar.

The two families that were evacuated by the IAF on Monday and Tuesday, arrived on board the HM 671 Dornier aircraft from Tambaram at the Shanghumughom Air Force Base at 4.55 p.m. Four days after the tragedy, the families have not recovered from the shock.

Naik Vinod, attached to the Military Engineering Service in Car Nicobar and hailing from Puthiyavila near Kayamkulam, said it was a miraculous escape. He heard a sound around 6 a.m. on Sunday while sleeping in his quarter, which was just 200 metres off the coast. The quarter was housed in a complex, which had 30 buildings.

"I did not think twice when I saw the waves coming towards the quarters. I went inside and rushed my wife, Shilpa and son Advaith. We could not take anything from the quarters and managed to escape on a scooter. The boundary wall of the quarters saved us," Mr. Vinod, who came to the Andamans a year ago with the family, said.

Mrs. Shilpa said the wives and children of the IAF personnel attached to the Base were dead and their bodies had not been recovered so far. The heaviest casualties were from the officers' enclave. Another personnel hailing from Thrissur, Manoj Kumar, managed to escape by swimming and was in the hospital.

Mr. Babu, an IAF personnel hailing from Karuvatta near Haripad in Alappuzha, said he was asleep in the quarters when they felt the tremor. "The neighbours woke us up and asked us to come out. There were 50 Malayalis in our locality and we slept outside the building. Suddenly, someone from the top of the quarters cried out that waves were approaching and we ran," he said.

Mr. Babu along with his wife, Supriya, daughter Divya, son Deepu and mother Leelamma ran and managed to climb atop a 150-metre-high tower where a radar was installed. "There were 200 of us. With great difficulty, we managed to hang on for over 45 minutes. Those who could not make it to the top of the tower perished in the tidal upsurge. An IAF helicopter came and rescued us later," he said. Mrs. Supriya was flown to Chennai on Monday from the island and Mr. Babu on Tuesday.

Earlier, the Wing Commander I.S. Yadav, Commanding Officer, Air Force Station, and other senior officers received the families at the Air Base. The Southern Air Command has made arrangements for their travel.

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